Urgent bug: Guest can't book despite vacant dates

Urgent bug: Guest can't book despite vacant dates

This is occuring not just on my account. As of today as well as some of my co-hosts when we receive a inquiry for VACANT dates, immediately it shows up on both sides as "impossible" or "not available". This is despite the dates being vacant.  Host and guest can still exchange messages but booking processes cannot be done as Airbnb is erroneously marking the conversation/dates as impossible. The guest can still select the vacant dates and re-send a message, but again, it cannot proceed as it is labeled as "impossible". This is a reproducable bug and my cohosts also experience this.  I am losing potential bookings right now as all my listings cannot be booked if this remains to be the case. 

21 Replies 21
Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

@Blue88 

 

Is it all about the same vacant dates, or is error occuring on any vacant dates ?

 

Best regards,

Emiel

 

 

Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

@Blue88 

 

Adding to previous message:

I just noticed on the community other hosts/guests mentioned same problem, so seems to be a bug.

Michelle53
Level 10
Chicago, IL

I'm getting this too. I had a guest who originally booked for Aug 21 - 23, then rescheduled to Aug 28 - 30. 

I accepted the change. 

I have a new inquiry for Aug 21 - 26, and we are getting "not possible" although my calendar shows open. 

 

 @Quincy @lizzie @Nick @Katie 

 

Can you help us urgently, please ?   I called support but no reservation shows for the new dates, so since there is no reservation coming within 72 hours, they disconnect the call automatically. 

Quincy
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hi there @Michelle53, thanks for the tag. I've passed this on to the team! 

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Please follow the Community Guidelines // Volg de communityrichtlijnen

Michelle53
Level 10
Chicago, IL

@Catherine-Powell     Here's one for you - this is just one source of frustration hosts are having to deal with. Inability to actually take a reservation, and zero assistance from Support. The only place we have left to turn is the moderators at this forum.   Thank you  @Quincy  !

Pat271
Level 10
Greenville, SC

This happened to me once, and it ended up being an arbitrary rule that had been added to certain dates, setting the *maximum* number of days to 1.  Since my minimum days were set to 3, it caused the “Not possible” messages to show up when trying to choose certain dates on the calendar.  It may not be your problem, but check your rules on the dates you are having a problem with.

Michelle53
Level 10
Chicago, IL

@Pat271    I checked my settings. There should be nothing preventing the booking going through, unless there is some background block which is not apparent from my calendar view. 

Michelle53
Level 10
Chicago, IL

Thank you @Airbnb . Totally lost a 5-day booking thanks to the system error. 

@Blue88 I confirm the same, starting yesterday 18-August.  It happened with 2 inquiries for a 1 night stay, displayed "NOT POSSIBLE" on the inquriy.  I allow 1 night stays and have no rules set to prohibit certain dates. 

I've also had bookings for 1 night stays previously. 

Don't know if these 2 recent guests tried to book or not, sounds like yours were blocked?  It does look like a new bug.

Ian-And-Anne-Marie0
Level 10
Kendal, United Kingdom

@Michelle53 @Blue88 @Dave52 

 

Posted elsewhere too... Here's a workaround for those hosts experiencing these problems:


Airbnb's reservation system is currently (August 19, 2020) having some errors. Pre-approvals turn to Not Possible status.

 

Solution: if approved reservation request turns to Not Possible the hosts needs to reply with a Special offer (if you don't update the price, it will remain the same as for the initial request) and the guest should be able to proceed for booking.

 

I experienced the same issue, and the Special Offer solved the problem.  I called Customer "Support" during the booking process, but the call was dumped because there was no reservation.  So I went to the Help page and described the problem. Voila! A response appeared that confirmed a known issue and prescribed the solution.

Michelle53
Level 10
Chicago, IL

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0   I tried that, it didn't work for me. The guest was able to see the special offer, but it still showed "not possible" on the status. 

@Michelle53 

 

As hosts we can try to help... but when Airbnb screw up, they screw up big time. How much money do you think they may have lost with this 'Glitch' ?  Such a pity they sacked their development team.

 

Ah well, worth a try!

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0    Thanks for trying. My guess is the guests already went elsewhere once they heard it was a "glitch". I probably would have, too, booking Wednesday for Friday, not wanting to wait for some nebulous bug fix.

 

My guess is Airbnb probably lost nothing, if guests were booking elsewhere on the site, and it wasn't a general issue everywhere. Only certain hosts lost out if they were getting errors. Surprise !

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